TA looks to recruit recession victims

EXECUTIVES facing redundancy should be sent to fight for the Territorial Army rather than paid off, one of Scotland's most senior military commanders said last night.

Brigadier David Allfrey, the head of the TA in Scotland, said white-collar workers facing the end of their careers could help plug a serious gap in the recruitment of reservist officers.

Allfrey, who is also commander of the 51st (Scottish) Brigade, said that after a period of paid TA training – at no cost to their employer –they could return to their companies in better economic times with new or improved management skills.

The TA, which needs recruits up to the age of 43, is deployed more heavily than at any time since the Second World War because of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the overstretch of the regular army.

But Scotland's two TA brigades are more than 200 staff short of their full complement, of which a significant proportion are officers.

Allfrey, who has presided over a 15% increase in recruitment to the regular army in Scotland in the past year, following eight years of decline, said: "Rather than simply shedding staff, I think it would be good for companies in a recession to have staff taken out of the workplace to be developed by us at no cost to them.

"We believe joining the TA increases self-confidence and the ability to plan in a complex environment. These are skills that can be used by businesses when their staff return to the workplace."

The TA already offers "summer schools" in which potential recruits are offered the opportunity to become fully trained TA soldiers in just seven weeks. Recruits are paid around £1,600 to take part, plus travel and subsistence, and an additional £400 tax-free bounty after completing a year's training. Longer training periods of up to six months are also available.

Employers, their representatives and politicians yesterday welcomed the suggestion as a "creative" option in the face of the downturn.

David Lonsdale, a spokesman for CBI Scotland, said the employers' organisation would be willing to meet TA commanders to discuss how companies could help the reserve forces. He said: "I agree that serving in the Army is a vocation but I think the TA needs to do more to make the case to companies on how they can help. When companies do lose staff it may be that they can signpost this sort of option more clearly."

Jim McColl, head of engineering concern Clyde Blowers and the Institute of Directors' Director of the Year in 2008, said: "This idea has merit because the army gives first-class training.

"In terms of shortfalls in TA officers, the problem for companies would be that they want good executives around 24 hours a day and it has been difficult to reconcile that with time off for TA training. Also, how long would staff be away before the TA wants to give them back?"

Angus Robertson, the SNP's Westminster leader and defence spokesperson, said: "Seconding executives for officer training in the TA is a constructive suggestion. All organisations have an important role to play in helping the country through the economic downturn."

Army chiefs hope that the number of recruits wanting to join the TA will soon mirror the rise experienced in the last year in the regular ranks.

The latest figures released by Allfrey show recruitment in Scotland has increased by almost 15% in the last year, partially due to the effects of the recession.

The rise is the first for almost a decade and outstrips the rest of the UK. Senior officers believe the employment security of the armed forces is being favoured over the uncertainties of civilian jobs during the worst economic downturn in a generation.

Glasgow has proved a fertile recruitment ground with numbers up 30% over the last year, while Dundee has risen 19%. Recruiting centres in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness have not recorded rises.